Frustrated drivers hitting more red lights on Broward Blvd.

It took years of driver complaints to finally get traffic signals synchronized on Broward Boulevard.

But now, two years later, road work designed to help commuters has once again thrown the lights out of alignment at times. The result, drivers say, is that since April, a 10-minute trip from Interstate 95 to U.S. 1 can take 20 minutes or more as they run into red light after red light.

"Broward Boulevard is a nightmare, in and out of downtown," said Nora-Lee Rodriguez, of Plantation.

The problem can be traced to work by the Florida Department of Transportation, including a project to bring real-time traffic information to drivers on Broward Boulevard and six other major roads in the county. The $8.9 million project has workers installing cameras, message signs, sensors and fiber optic lines along Broward between S.R. 7 and U.S. 1.

That has "intermittently resulted in individual intersections or groups of intersections losing coordination during the past several months," said Broward Traffic Engineering Director Scott Brunner. "Just a couple of disruptions can throw the synchronization off significantly."

The work is expected to continue until the fall.

Broward Boulevard is a major east-west artery carrying commuters to downtown Fort Lauderdale. At its intersection with Kentucky Avenue, west of I-95, the state is installing new signals and overhead illuminated street signs. The work often involves cutting into the communications network at intersections, which results in the signals being out of sync.

"During lane closures, the contractor will often implement special settings to try to move more traffic through the remaining open lanes," Brunner said. "Although this is intended to help traffic flow through the intersection better, it can actually disrupt the overall synchronization of the corridor."

In 2011, Broward engineers finished synchronizing lights on Broward and other east-west roads so that drivers heeding the speed limit would meet mostly green lights. North-south roads were re-timed a year later. The impact was immediate and drivers applauded the difference.

But traffic engineers it is difficult to keep the timing perfect.

That's because Broward Boulevard traffic volume often exceeds capacity at rush hour. Trains can block traffic and interrupt signal timing. And lights are timed to avoid traffic on the I-95 off-ramps backing up onto the interstate.

There are three timing plans for Broward Boulevard — morning rush hour, evening rush hour, and midday, nights and weekends. When plans switch from one to another, it takes a few cycles for signals on the entire corridor to re-sync. That's why a driver at 9 a.m. at the end of morning rush hour might face more red lights as the timing switches to a midday pattern than if they were driving 15 minutes earlier or later on the same road.

"Even under the best of conditions, it is not always possible to achieve perfect synchronization and never hit a red light," Brunner said. "High volumes of competing sides-street traffic at the I-95 interchange and other major north/south arterials reduce green-time available to east/west Broward Boulevard traffic."